CBS and NBC are talking with mixed martial arts promotions about becoming the first major broadcast network to televise the sport.

Nothing is official, but television and MMA insiders expect a deal between CBS and the Ultimate Fighting Championship to be announced shortly.

UFC president Dana White said he didn’t want to discuss a deal that is still being negotiated, but White did say that UFC 80 on Jan. 19 would be a pay-per-view event. It had been rumored that would be the first CBS show if a deal was reached.

MMA insiders believe CBS is looking at a Saturday night prime-time slot. CBS averaged a 4.5 rating in prime time on Nov. 24, a number no UFC event has approached. However, major UFC events such as Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz in 2006 and this year’s Dan Henderson vs. Quinton Jackson Pride vs. UFC title unification match have beaten all network programming in the highly sought 18-34 male demographic despite airing on basic cable’s Spike TV.

The WGA Writer Guild of America....have been back at the table in talks with the networks all week and reports so far are that they have a deal in place and are now hammering out the finer details in writing.

The word is that the strike will be over before the holiday season begins.

This along with the fact that the U.S. networks have at least the first 5 episode of most prime time television shows finished and/or in post production (not effected by the strike) means that only an extra week or two or repeats will air this jan/feb.

Thus a deal with the UFC to broadcast PPV's is now out the window....CBS was about to take the risk due to the concern that the Spring 08 schedule would not return. However now with only a two week period to fill the risk is gone and so is the deal.

MMA's (and the ufc's) best bet for primetime network television once again fall to the Mark Burnett reality option...

I think we can almost confirm that UFC will be on NBC. We've had Dana on Mike Eisner (CNBC). CNBC is also have a special on the UFC and how big it has become. AND, Forrest Griffin was just on Law & Order.